A Double Life
by LittleGreenFae
Summary: A teenage girl's life is changed, when she gets the role of her dreams. crappy summary I know, but please read.


**AN: Ok, I know you're not supposed to post original fiction on here. But I promise that this story has a lot to do with Oliver! I've seen many people post stories about their school putting up productions of a musical. This is the same thing, only none of it's real. I wrote this for my semester exam last year, and i wanted to share it with you guys, and yes, I got top marks ;)**

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It's strange how something as simple as a mirror can show so much, and yet so little at the same time. Why is that? I don't know if I'll ever find an answer to that question. I don't know if it's even important to know the answer. Why do we need to know everything about the world? Wouldn't that make it boring? I think so. The world should be a mystery, and the mirror is part of the world. It also means that the world shouldn't know everything about me.

Looking at me, you wouldn't see anything different about me than any other girl. I'm 16 years old and almost done with secondary school. I'll be starting college next year. Well if I even bother. What does it really matter anyway? I already have a job. You go to school to get a job don't you? Why bother if you already have one? That's what my dad thinks anyway. It was he who got me the job. I was only 13 years old when he made me take it. He doesn't work you see. Just stays home, drinking anything he can get his hands on. It's disgusting really. However what choice do I have? We have to make money somehow, and this is the only way.

You're probably wondering what type of job I got. Well you might have guessed it already, but if you haven't I'll just tell you now. I'm a whore, a prostitute. Nothing more, nothing less. The people I work for have been told that I'm 18. I don't know if they believed it but I'm still here. You would think someone would turn my dad in, or at the very least, refuse to let me work there. Everyone is too afraid of him though. He can get pretty violent when he gets mad. I've experienced that first hand almost my whole life. Ever since my mum died when I was five years old. So what choice do I have? I can either do my job and keep my dad relatively happy most of the time, or not do my job and get beaten half to death. Not really much of a choice is it.

"Sam!" I jump at the shout of my name, pulling me away from my thoughts. Relaxing only when my brain catches up with me and realizes who it was that was calling me. Michael.

"I'm coming!" I call back, quickly pulling my ballet bag out from under my bed, and running outside to greet two of my best friends, Tara and Michael

"You ready?" Michael asked, pulling me into a hug. Michael and I have been friends since we were both babies. Our mums knew each other since college, and I think it was a dream for them that we would someday fall in love and get married. Well that was before he came out to me three years ago. He's my best friend though, and I think that's enough for his mum at least.

"Yes." I said a big smile on my face. I was very excited for today. It was the auditions for my last school musical. Not only that, it was one of my favourites. Oliver! I'd never been able to see it live, my dad made sure of that, but I had seen the movie several times when I was younger. I remember watching it whit my mum, when life was still perfect.

Before you ask, no my friends don't know what my dad makes me do and they don't know how violent he can get either. Please don't think they're bad friends because of that fact. I've simply been very good at hiding the bruises. I don't want them to know how cruel life can be. I don't want them to pity me.

The auditions went great, and about a week later the cast list was put up. It's not really important for you to know every person who was cast. That would be too many names to make sense of. All you need to know is that I got Nancy, Tara got Bet, and Michael got Bill Sikes. Amazing isn't it? I get to play a role that I've loved since I first saw the movie. If only I'd only known how this casting was going to change my life.

For the next two months my days were full. Rehearsing almost every day, and working every night. In a way I became Nancy 24 hours a day. It was defiantly a character I identified with. I didn't really need to act much at all. I was pretty much playing myself.

"Could we maybe do that scene again?" asked Jamie, our director, after we'd just done the scene where Bill forces Nancy to go and get Oliver back, after he's been taken in by Mr. Brownlow. It was only a week left till our first performance, and this was the first time we'd gotten in costume. It made everything so much more real. "And then maybe go straight into _As Long as He Needs Me_ after that. I want to see more brutality from you Michael, alright?" She asked, coming onto the stage. "Your great, but I want you to be amazing. I want to feel the fear in the audience." She turned to me. "Can I just talk to you for a second?" I nod and follow her off the stage. "Are you alright?" she asked. Concern evident in her voice.

"Of course I am, why wouldn't I be?" I ask, panicking a little. Had my performance been too believable? Did she know something? She couldn't know. No one knew anything. I'd made sure of that.

"It's a pretty intense scene, hen." She said, still concerned. "And you look a little pale."

"I'm fine, don't worry about me." I said, a fake smile crossing my face. I was good at those.

"If you say so." She said. She still didn't seem convinced. "Let's do it again, then." I wasn't alright. Not really. The scene was so true to me. It could easily have been one of my own confrontations with my dad. I'd been so close to breaking down, right there in front of her and telling her everything. I took a deep breath, steadying myself, before walking back on stage to do the scene again, this time finishing it with my biggest solo. I was really crying when I finished.

"Samantha!" I looked up startled, to see my dad standing by the door of the auditorium, a murderous look on his face. The rest of the cast whipped their heads around at the sound of his voice, before looking back at me, where I stood, frozen to the spot. Had he seen the entire scene? I knew this would be bad if he had.

I was still frozen when he lunged for the stage, grabbing my arm roughly and pushing me to the ground. Didn't he see all the other people in the room? I looked into the audience where the rest of the cast, and the crew were sitting in shock of what they were seeing.

"Look at me!" He screamed, and my head snapped back. He picked me up again, his fingers digging into my arms, as he shook me violently. "Is this your little plan of telling people about your life? A fancy way of telling everyone in town what you are?" He yelled, hitting me hard across the face. He'd gone mad.

"Of course not!" I cried, tears running down my cheeks. How could he think that? Not once in my entire life had I given him a reason to believe I'd turn him in, though he'd given me several my whole life. Didn't he see what he was doing by showing up here?

"Don't lie to me!" He yelled, hitting me again. The next thing I know I'm back on the floor, a howl of pain coming from the man in front of me. I look up just in time to see him turning on Michael standing behind him, with the same club he uses in the show in his hands.

"You hit her again, and your dead." He threatened, and I believe him. He really did look frightening standing like that, club raised ready to strike. I think that's when my dad first realized where we were, and how many people who were looking at us.

"You set this up!" He cried lunging towards me again. He didn't get there though. Michael's club connected with his had just in time, and he fell to the ground next to me, unconscious.

The next second I'm surrounded by people trying to get to me, asking me if I'm OK. All I could do was sit there curled up, staring at the unconscious man that had made my life hell for eleven years.

"Please get the nurse." I hear Jamie ask someone, and I look up to see her talking to the nine year old boy they'd gotten from the neighbouring elementary school to play Oliver. He's too young to have seen something like this. He get's frightened by watching Michael and I do one of our scenes and those he knows are pretend.

"Toby, I'm OK." I said, reaching my hands out to hug the frightened child.

"Are you sure?" He asked, as I pulled him into my arms. He's so innocent. So pure. I lied to him.

"I'm sure, I promise. " The lie comes so easily to my lips. Just like all the other lies I've told in my life.

"Go get the nurse, Toby." Jamie said again, and he pulled out of my embrace, wiping away his tears, before leaving. I look up at the rest of the cast, and crew, they're not convinced, and I know it. I get to my feet, hugging my arms around my trembling body. Noticing that one of the sleeves of my dress was torn.

"He ruined my costume." I mumbled, a hysterical laugh escaping my lips. I hear something heavy fall to the ground, and I jump at the loud sound. A pair of strong arms wrap around my shoulders as Michael embraces me. That's when I really break down, violent sobs escaping my body as I cry into his chest.

The next few days were hell, as I had to talk to the police, doctors, and psychologists. I had to tell them everything. I also had to give up the location and the names of the people I'd worked for all these years. As it turns out they knew how old I was when I started. They got arrested, and are now awaiting their sentence. So is my dad. The worst part of it thought was that now, the whole town now knows about my double life. They all look at me differently. I hate it. I can't hide anymore. The whole world now knows about me. Well maybe not the whole world, but all of the UK knows.

The opening night for the play was postponed till after most of the drama was over. The shows were great. We even performed more shows than we'd planned. Apparently all the drama around me had brought people in. So I guess something good came out of it all, though it is hard for me to believe that all my pain is really over. That I don't have to suffer anymore. I'll live with Michael's family till the end of the school year at least. Then I'm planning to go to college.

"Sam, you're on in 10 minutes, you should probably get going." I looked up in the mirror, and saw Kathy, my dresser behind me at the door. I nodded. She left. I stood up, my hands running over my red frock, before looking at myself in the mirror again. It was my first performance.

Looking in the mirror today, five years after my escape from my father, I don't really look much different than I did back then. Not to the mirror anyway. To the people who knew me back then though, that still know me today; they'll say I'm a completely different person. And though my unconscious is still haunted by nightmares, I'm happier. I'm living my dream, performing in the same role I did that day in the theatre when my life changed. Only this time on the West End. My life really couldn't get any better. I'm free to have one life and one life only, doing what I've always loved to do. Perform.

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**Please, Please, Please review! you know you want to!**

**-Fae  
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